Beyond Supernatural
by keyqueen
Summary: Since the battle of the apocalypse, Dean and Sam Winchester have continued to live their lives oblivious that they were actually trapped in Lucifer's cage. After an endless cycle of death and resurrection within, it finally seemed they were gone for good. Until Death himself rose them from the cage. Now guided by the memories of a life they never lived, the brothers have a chance


Full summery:

Since the battle of the apocalypse, Dean and Sam Winchester have continued to lived their lives oblivious that they were actually trapped in Lucifer's cage. After an endless cycle of death and resurrection within, it finally seemed they were gone for good. Until Death himself rose them from the cage. Now guided by the memories of a life they never lived, the brothers have a chance to redo the last ten years of their lives for real this time. Though Sam can't help but notice that there's someone Dean doesn't want back into their new life. Someone who, with a shocking revelation about their true origin, will lead the Winchesters down a path deeper into the supernatural then they have ever been.

Source credits: This chapter contains plot or dialogue adapted from canon episode 6X11.

* * *

It was all just a dream. Those are six words that fiction enthusiasts almost unanimously don't like to hear. Six words with the power to strip a narrative of all meaning and purpose, to undo a story, rendering it null and void. Yet this is no story, it's the Winchesters life. A life which had seemed to at last come to its final end. So often the two brothers died, only to wake up and carry on once more. At last the cycle that had replayed so many times before seemed to have been broken.

This time they woke to find themselves locked within Lucifer's cage. Even more they were not alone. It wasn't as bad as they would have thought, normally. The two angelic brothers were mostly preoccupied with the other. This left the human brothers on their own devices. From time to time however one would slip the other, on these occasions the Winchesters soon learned to seek cover, lest they be found before the absent angel.

Now was one such occasion. Dean leaned against the wall, peering cautiously past the door frame. Across the room of the dingy shack half hidden by shadows, Sam watched his elder brother for even the smallest sign. Nether uttered a single word, and as the sound of leafs trudging along the forest floor came closer, neither dared breath. A moment later the full form of the devil himself was outside casting a heavy darkness against the door frame. He held still surveying the area, searching out his own brother. A moment later he turned straight for the shack door.

"I know you're in there Sam," Lucifer taunted "Not a very good hiding place but I'd recognize your fluttery impulses anywhere."

"Crap" Sam whispered so low it might as well have been silent.

"What do you mean Sam impulses are fluttery" On the contrary, Dean shouted out the door. There was no point in staying quiet when Lucifer was just about to walk through. It was best to get it over with and buy as much time as possible before punches started being thrown. Lucky Lucifer could be surprisingly chatty.

"Spiritual impulses are like music, each soul has its own song." Lucifer had one foot on the threshold "Yours are hard and pounding. Sam's are soft and sweet like a bird with a clarinet for a voice."

"Right, thanks for the spiritology lesson, I guess." Sam rolled his eyes not believing he had thanked the devil for anything.

Lucifer gave a short laugh, "Hey Dean, know what else your brother's impulses told me while I was rooting around that thick head of his?"

"No? Tell me." Dean asked was not a new game between the three, but one of Lucifer's favorite ways to torment Sam. For Dean it had been actually rather amusing to begin with but after the first twenty million rounds the fun had worn off.

"You suck, Lucifer," Sam shot at Lucifer who was now fully inside, level between them.

"Oh, I would like to suck something," Lucifer replied smoothly

Almost before the Winchesters could react in disgust a blaring white light filled the room as Lucifer's older brother appeared in the center.

"Welcome to the party Mikey!" Lucifer cried rearing to pounce..

Just before the two impacted, Michael turned to Dean and Sam.

"You two should get out of here."

Without a moment's hesitation and a large sigh of relief the Winchesters complied.

* * *

Sam ran through the forest with only one thought in his mind. To get as far away from the sight of the angelic impact as quickly as possible. He was so entranced in this goal he didn't notice when Dean fell behind. Only by the sound of leaves being thrown by heavy footsteps did he subconsciously know his brother was behind him. Sam's trance broke suddenly as the forest around him started to fade away. At once the world was plunged into pitch darkness.

"What's going on?!" Sam asked directed behind him. To further his surprise it was not Dean who answered.

"Something appears to have disrupted your perception."

"Michael!" Sam rounded on heavens fallen ruler. Something about Michael's demeanor felt eerily familiar "If you're here, did Lucifer catch Dean?"

"I don't believe so. I don't think your brother is in the cage any longer" Michael responded

"Then where would he be?" Sam demanded "What do you mean my perception?"

Michael's familiarity was growing increasingly frustrating as Sam struggled to place it while wrestling with his concern for his brother. Michael's eyes narrowed slightly in Sam's direction.

"Do you not remember what I told you when we were first trapped here?" He asked

Sam could only look on baffled. "You told me what? Pretty sure this is the longest conversation the _two of us _have had since...well ever."

"In other words you do not remember." Michael concluded "How you perceive the cage is much different from how Lucifer and I see it. Your mind cannot process its true nature thus it creates an illusion to understand it. That is why it may be a derelict city one moment and a forest the next. Yet Lucifer can take control of this illusion and alter it however he choses in order to manipulate you."

"In other words I can't trust any thing I'm seeing because Lucifer's probably just fucking with my head." Sam wondered "So how do i know you're really Michael."

"You don't" Michael said. In that instant it hit Sam why Michael felt so familiar.

"So you could be anyone, even Castiel?" Sam asked. For a brief moment a mixture a hopefulness and worry began to rise within him only to instantly come crashing down as Michael's usual neutral expression suddenly flashed to anger. Then, for the first time in either of Sam's captivities within the cage, Michael attacked him. The punch came so fast Sam could have not seen it coming and so hard that he flew several feet back landing on the ground clutching his chest. Michael soon stood over him.

"In the future you would be wise not to speak that name in my presents again." Michael announced his voice carrying clear warning. "I still know I am myself, and until the day I do not, I will not be reminded of that faithless traitor."

"Alright, you're Michael, you're definitely Michael." He said in surrender his hands raised to shield himself from anymore forthcoming blows. Instead Michael walked off, leaving Sam baffled on the ground. It seemed his brother and the late ruler of heaven had something in common after all.

* * *

Dean squinted his eyes against the sudden light in which he found himself immersed. For so long the only light he experienced was that which emanated from the archangels. Their light was much brighter and far more pure than the dull and tarnished glow that surrounded him now. Yet this left him blinded and disoriented as theirs had not. As his sight adjusted to the unexpected assault, he saw that he was standing before a small table surrounded by several empty chairs. One chair on the opposite end to the table was not empty, instead sat a man so pale thin and ancient he might as well have been a corpse.

"You!" Dean started "This isn't possible, your dead!"

"No, I am Death," The old man stated plainly "and you are Dean Winchester. A man who has twice been to hell and now twice raised.

"I know who I am!" Dean snapped back. "I killed you. I ran you through with your own synth!"

"Well that would have been quite rude, not to mention impossible. Good thing it never happened."

Dean stared at Death in utter confusion and annoyance.

"What do you mean it never happened?"

"Obviously, I am here before you alive." As he spoke Death held up his hands to the sides of his head and then stretched out his arms to gesture to the rest of the room. "And speaking of things that did not in fact happen, have you not recognized where you currently are?"

For the first time Dean looked properly around the room. It certainly seemed familiar, though it took him a moment to realize. When he finally did a wave of sadness washed over him.

"This is Bobby's kitchen?" Dean realized "This can't be real, Bobby's house burned down years ago. And Bobby..." Dean let his voice trail off unable to finish his sentence, or his thought.

"What is real, and what is not. That is a puzzle that you must face going forward. But I assure you, what is here right now is just as real, if not more so, as everything since you and your brother overcame the archangels on the battlefield."

"All right, drop the riddles and just tell me what's going on?" Dean demanded irritated, "Where exactly is here!"

Death gave a small sigh, "You now know exactly where you are. What I presume is that you do not know where you have been."

"I've been in the cage since Sam and I died." Dean asserted, determined to prove he could tell reality from fiction.

"And before that?"

Here Dean had to pause a moment to think, he found that many of his memories had gone fuzzy. "Before that I was alive, fighting God."

The reaper tusked. "You were still in the cage then, Dean. You and Sam have been in the cage since that battle."

Dean felt himself crumble under his own weight. He reached out to grab the back of the chair before him. Only his hand went right through it. He surprised himself further as he let out a faint yelp. Death looked on seemingly amused.

"Awesome, _I'm a fucking ghost._" He thought to himself. Any other time he might enjoy the idea and all the possibilities it could have but right now… "Your saying that everything we did after that was all some kind of hell induced hallucination?! All the bad things we fought, all the crap we went through? None of it mattered, it was all meaningless?"

"It was a dream yes, but meaningless no." Death continued after giving Dean a moment to process and burn out some of his anger. "Dreams can be quite meaningful. Within dreams messages are often embedded. Some messages are warnings, while others are promises. It is only the dreamer who can decode the message and determine what must be done."

"Great more riddles, just what I don't need right now." Dean grumbled. "Alright fine, if it was all a dream, how does that work exactly? Because I didn't fall into the cage that day. Sammy did but not me."

"Yes, you did. I witnessed your fall. As did your friends." Death corrected him "You may not have been aware that you fell, or that you were in the cage. You likely had begun dreaming long before that. If that's so your memories of that day and the days proceeding would differ from the events that took place"

Dean gave half an amused chuckle "You think I sleepwalked into the biggest fight of my life?"

"Not sleepwalked. You went into that battle possessed by the archangel Michael."

Dean wanted so badly to find a hole in Death's logic, so he could call his bluff and disprove this absurd story. Through the whole conversation he had been searching for any weakness in the plot but with this new revelation, Death had expertly put the last narrative brick into place and solidified the mortar in one foul swoop. He did not remember saying yes to Michael (the original one anyway),but he knew far too darn well that once Sam was gone with Lucifer it would have taken every power in heaven, hell, and earth combined to stop him. Just one last thing could possibly break the wall between Dean's new reality and this supposed dream.

"How can I be sure that this is real and not apart of this hell dream." he asked surprised at how much calmer he was suddenly feeling.

"Right now you can't," Death answered. "Only time can help you untangle the life you have lived from the one you have not. Within the spirit false memories fade, while true memories become stronger with time."

Silence followed as Death allowed Dean to reflect on his words. Dean felt he should be confused and full of doubt. Yet somehow the more he thought about it the more sense it made. He realized how ludicrous it should seem yet he also realized it to be the truth. Still his mind was swarming with questions he could not form in his mind, let alone say aloud. Eventually he managed "I assume you didn't spring me from the box just to chit chat, so why did you?"

Without another word Death rose from his seat and walked passed Dean, out of Bobby's kitchen into the study. Dean turned to follow, but as the next room fell into his sight he stopped dead in his tracks. Now the small noises that he had been hearing but barely aware of throughout his and Death's conversation made sense.

The first thing Dean saw was the tattered baseball cape hovering over the desk at the far end of Bobby's study. The face underneath the cape was turned down buried in a book, but Dean did not need to see it to know at whom he was looking. The same flush of sorrowful joy that he had felt upon recognizing Bobby's kitchen set on him once more, twenty fold.

"Bobby, He's alive." By the time Dean had managed to choke the words out Death was already more than halfway across the room and gave a small sound of confirmation. In his excitement Dean practically crossed the room in three strides.

"Bobby!" Standing in front of the desk Dean reached out to grab Bobby by the shoulder. Except his hand fell right through Bobby's body and Bobby made no sign that he had heard Dean's voice.

"Your a ghost, He can't hear or see us." Death reminded him.

"Is that why you brought me here? So you could dangle people I care about in front of me without even letting me say hi. If that's it you're a sick bastard."

"Do not be disrespectful to me, my purpose is not to torture you," Death was standing now on the other side of the desk, so close to Bobby that his suit jacket brushed Bobby's left arm. Bobby was still completely unaware. Dean on the other hand was increasingly aware by the second how uncomfortable the situation was. He wondered why they had to move here instead of staying in the kitchen.

As if to answer Death began to open the top left draw of Bobby's desk. For a brief moment Bobby remained engrossed in his book and didn't notice. Then at once he caught the movement of the draw from the corner of his sight.

"The hell," Bobby gruffed quietly turning to watch to draw slid fully open. His eyes grow wide and jaw dropped slightly as Death reached in and pulled something out. Bobby jumped up quickly and ran out of the room. Dean knew that he would return shortly, with a shotgun and emf detector.

"Okay, now he definitely knows we're here. What's so important in Bobby's desk you had to spook his pants off?"

"This," Death held out his closed hand across the table and waited for Dean to extend his as well. As Dean did so Death dropped a small object into his palm and he was somewhat surprised it stayed put instead of falling through.

"_What exactly are the rules with this crap_." Dean wondered to himself as he looked down at the object. He recognized it at once, it was Death's ring.

"I have pulled you from the cage, Dean, because I have an offer for you."

"An offer?" Dean startled "What kind of offer."

"An offer at another chance for life. You will have your life back as it was ten years ago. The chance to relive the ten years you never lived and do it all over for real this time." Death told him, his voice somewhat cryptic.

"You, Death, want to bring me back to life?" Dean could not have been more surprised, or more concerned. Apparently the last time he had come back from the dead was when.. the angels had pulled him from hell. Though it seemed like a miracle at first, it came at a heavy cost. A cost that felt even heavier now, since he learned both he and his brother had been being tortured in hell since. If that had been the cost for being resurrected by heaven, he didn't even want to know the price the very entity who created death would ask. With that he knew his next question should be "why?" or "what do you want from me", but before he was willing to weigh any other variables to the equation there was one he had to make sure was solidly in place first. So instead the next thing he said was…

"Just me? What about Sam? Cous, if he's not part of it, there's no deal."

Death shifted his weight looking over the desk.

"I don't bring people back as a role, I might make an exception once, not twice."

"Then it's not going to happen at all." Dean dropped the ring onto Bobby's open book. "I'm not going to be upstairs throwing tiki parties while my brother's stuck in the cage for the rest of eternity, playing hide and go dodge with Michael and Lucifer."

At that moment Bobby had returned with an emf in one hand and a loaded shotgun in the other.

"Alright you son of a bitch, show yourself." He demanded scanning the room with the emf. Seeing him right now Dean felt his resolve crumble a little. Suddenly he understood way Death had brought him here, to Bobby's. Bobby, the man he loved as a father, and Bobby's house, the one place growing up he was ever allowed to just be a kid. They were reminders of everything he had lost since that day on the battlefield and of everything he could regain if he accepted Deaths offer. He didn't want to have to lose it all again, but he wouldn't abandon his brother either. No matter what life he got back, it wouldn't be his _life_ without Sam.

"What price are you willing to pay for your brother, Dean?" Death asked almost as though reading his mind. Dean turned to look at him, his expression glum. "It seems that is the crooks of your problem, just what wouldn't you two sacrifice for one another? Would you allow the world to burn down around yourselves and watch every other human parish if doing so meant nothing could harm Sam ever again? "

"No, of course not!" Dean shot back "I might be messed up, I admit that but I'm no monster."

Death nodded and picked the ring back up. "And if Sam were to die again, would you accept his fate and move forward until such a time as your own comes to call?"

Dean stared in shock. "If Sam dies?"

"No more demon deals, no more sacrifices, no more black magic. No more coming back. As I said I might make an exception once, not twice."

"So those are the terms?" Dean asked dodging Bobby's arm as the emf in his hand was going wild in their presents. "You bring us back, me and Sam. But when we die, that's it, we're done for good. If something happens to Sam then I just move on and don't try to bring him back again? Ok, then do it."

"If I bring Sam back. I never said I would."

"Then what the hell have we been talking about?" Dean demanded

Death stepped closer to him, "Your price, if you win the wager."

"Great, what's the bet." Dean sighed irritated and feeling as if Death was running him in a cycle.

"Don't roll your eyes Dean, it's impolite." Death then placed the ring in Dean's hand once more. "Put it on."

"What?" Dean couldn't process the strange request.

"I want you to be me for one day."

"Are you serious?" Deans question came out as barely above a whisper. Death was so close to Dean now that they were standing with their noses only an inch apart.

Now it was Death's turn to roll his eyes as he turned to move away, "No, I'm being incredibly sarcastic."

"Take the ring off before the twenty-four hours are up," Death continued "and you lose. Sam stays locked within the cage. You win, I resurrect both of you one last time."

Dean looked down at the ring in his hand, then back up at Death. Finally he turned to look at Bobby who was still scanning the room and uttering challenges under his breath.

That's all he had to do, he thought. It seemed simple enough, still he felt Death must have some trick in store he wasn't about to let on. Though he couldn't bring up any of the details, he now remembered he and Death had made the same deal before, except apparently they hadn't. Still real Death probably wanted him to learn the same lesson as hell Death had.

Besides the alternative… Dean thought about his options, to take Death's deal and give both he and Sam the chance at a live with everything they had lost back, or they both spend eternity trapped smack in the middle of the worst family feud the universe has ever seen. It seemed like a no brainer to him.

"Alright, I'll do it," He said more to Bobby then to Death. "I'll give it a shot."

With that he prepared to slip Death's ring onto his finger. "Here goes everything"

* * *

"Wow, their just giving the job to any slack jaw haircut these days." The voice took Dean by surprise and he looked up to find he was no longer in Bobby's study but standing outside on the sidewalk of a rather busy road the sun beginning to rise on the horizon. He spun around to face whoever had addressed him.

"Tessa," He recognized the reaper at once though it had been some time since he had seen her, in real or hell life. She was not nearly as pretty as he remembered. "Well you're all charm these days aren't you."

"Let's be clear," Tessa said walking toward him. "So we get through this with a minimum of screw up, I don't like this."

"This is your boss's idea, not mine." Dean protested as Tessa walked past him and he turned back to follow.

"True, but you have a long history of throwing a wrench into everything," She reminded him " So let's just stick to the rules ok?"

"And those are what, exactly?" Dean asked, struggling to keep up with the reapers pace. Still somehow when Tessa stopped and turned back suddenly he had to come to a halt to stop himself from colliding with her.

"For the next twenty-four hours you reap anyone who's numbers up." She told him.

"And how am I supposed to know who's numbers up." Dean asked her.

"I have a list, I'll know." Tessa informed him

"Did Death give it to you?" Dean wondered "Let me see it."

"Yes he did, and no." Tessa's voice held a slight annoyed amusement to it. Then continuing on as though Dean hadn't interrupted her, "You touch them, they die, I reap them. You take off the ring you lose, you slack off you lose. We Clear?"

"Yeah, I guess." Dean said although he didn't feel it.

"Good, don't mess this up, I'm not you damn babysitter." Tessa turned and started walking again.

Dean didn't think the job would be too hard, and at first it wasn't. His first victim was a douchebag shot while robbing a store. Dean wanted to wait a while and let the douchebag suffer, though Tessa did not share his patients. Eventually he had to give into her nagging. After that it got a little harder with several elders, each looking well passed their time, but seeing their loved ones by their bedside as they passed was what really got to him. Even worse were the few who had no one. Next was the heart attack guy, although Dean felt sorry for the man, mostly it made him think that if he did win the bet and Death revived him, he should really reconsider his diet. Then the car wreck victims, that was a struggle, but the worst part was there were so many. Dean couldn't help to notice each job grow progressively worse.

Finely it was clear that Tessa's list had saved the worst for last.

"Come on, what is she thirteen?" Dean asked Tessa his voice begging her not to make him do it. He's eyes not leaving the young girl sitting in the hospital bed looking over family photos with her father.

"She's twelve." Tessa informed him quietly barely above a whisper.

"This guy have any other family?" Dean asked next feeling even more desperate by the minute.

"No, not really." Tessa watched as Dean turn to leave the room, and then followed behind.

Out in the hall Dean grabbed his mouth and began pacing in a half cycle. Tessa expected him to kill a freaking kid. They wanted him to kill an innocent kid in exchange for him and his brother to live. For a moment he thought about Death asking him what he wouldn't sacrificed for Sam. Could that be the test, was he not suppose to kill these people?

"Well, this is awesome."

"Did you think it would all be robbers and heart attacks." Tessa asked him.

"She's Twelve! Why do Sam and I get to live a second time. While some poor kid doesn't even get a first? The others fine I get it, but why a kid? How is that fair?" Dean pleaded.

"Fair is never part of the equation. It's just what it is. She has a serious heart condition. You and Sam well...You'll see" Tessa said stopping herself short as if she nearly dropped a secret on him.

"Who's next on the list?" Dean demanded

"Dean, you have to take her." Tessa warned him

"Says who!" He challenged

"Death." Tessa's voice was growing calmer even as Dean's grow more upset. But if she was doing it to calm him it was not working.

"Who tells him?" Dean asked desperately hoping for a way out of the situation. And still to free his brother, and himself.

"I don't know, it just is, it's destiny."

"Destiny…!" Dean trailed off. Once upon a time he would have said, destiny was a load a crap, but that was before what happen with God. Except that never happened but he did in fact once say destiny was a load of crap, because this has all happened before.

"Crap...dominos." Dean shot out loud before he could stop himself as the realization hit.

Tessa looked back at him with a vastly confused and mildly concerned stair "I'm sorry, what dominos? What are you talking about Dean?"

"I have to kill the kid because if I don't that nurse is going to die." Dean swallowed and lick his lips nervously

Tessa look grow even more confused, "Why would you think that? Some time these things can have a chain reaction, true. But there's no way to know if or what it will be until it happens."

"Trust me I've seen what will happen. I can't explain how or why but I've been right here before and I know what's going to go down." Dean buried his face into his hands, his mind pounding as he tried desperately to work out his dilemma. He thought this might become his new personal hell as he surely would spend eternity trying to figure out what to do. But just as he was actually beginning to miss the cage Tessa spoke up.

"I know what you saw in the cage. You should know that many things you saw in hell don't work the same in the real world. So while somethings may be similar you can never know for sure what will happen."

" If no one else is going to die," Dean asserted "I'm not going to do it! I'm not going to kill some kid who hasn't had a chance to live so we can live again." With that he made to take off Deaths ring.

"Then you fail, Dean." Tessa warned him. Just then an alarm in the little girls room went off, teaching him that Tessa had spoken the truth.

"What's wrong with her?" Dean demanded. "I didn't touch her."

Tessa look slowly away from the team of nurses and doctors working dedicatedly to stabilize the child. "Even if her soul is still inside her, her body is still shutting down."

"Why," Was all Dean could manage

"Despite what you might think Dean, Death doesn't kill people. Life does, nature does. There is no being or entity on, above, or below earth that can truly break the laws of nature."

"Your supernatural beings" Dean protested.

Tessa shook her head. "There's no such thing as the supernatural. Only nature that humans don't or can't understand. It's what fills in the gaps of your science." Although Dean felt like his entire world view had been challenged he knew that what Tessa said made sense.

"So if the kid was going to die anyway, what are we even doing here?" he needed to ask.

"It isn't about the process of dying," Tessa looked toward the worried father. "That's purely biological. Nothing can change that bodies break down from time or injuries or something going wrong inside them. Or that a body that's too damaged can no longer contain it's soul. It's about what happens after. What we do is help the soul and heal the wounds within others it left behind. All souls are connected, chained together into one. If one soul is tainted, it affects those around it."

"The dad," Dean asked. "The guy's about it loss his kid, how is he going to heal from that?"

"He won't if you don't help them." Tessa warned. "Before long her brain will be completely shut down. No brain, No soul."

"You mean how ghosts sometimes get left behind?"

Tessa gave him a small node. "They don't want to let go, as long as they can't find peace neither can those who mourn them."

"Fine I'll do it." he said finely. "_I'm not actually killing the kid. Nature is doing that. Just helping her let go." _He told himself as he walked over to her bedside. Slowly he reached out and put her small hand in his. Turning to look back at Tessa he swore she gave him a proud smile. Next to her the girl's ghost suddenly appeared. Tessa tenderly placed her arm around the child.

"Am i dead?" the girl asked looking back at her own body. Dean wished she didn't have to see that.

He came over and knelt down at her level. "I'm sorry." He told her.

"What about my dad?" she asked him

"We'll take care of him, I promise."

"It's time to go." Tessa gave the girls shoulder a gentle nudge, and started to lead her away. Then looking back at him said "Your done Dean, you can take off the ring now." Dean stood watching them leave. Then suddenly thought of something.

"Hey Tessa, one last thing," Dean stopped her just before she and the girl disappeared. "If it doesn't matter whether or not there's a reaper around when someone dies, why were the people in the town where Alister was kidnapping you buddy's, ok? Why didn't they just die and get stuck in the vail?" Tessa looked at him more sorrowful then he had seen her all day.

"I'm pretty sure that town had a guardian angel in a trench coat watching over it till you cleaned up the mess." Her words hit him like a dagger to his gut. They should have chipped away at the anger he had been holding onto for so long, to know that even when the angel was still tightly in the grip of heaven he had been looking out for humans. Instead Tessa's words only served to remind him that the angel existed at all. To remind him he couldn't even bring himself to think his name, let alone say it.

"You mean, that ass kept them alive." Dean snarled slightly .

Tessa scald, apparently not appreciative of his tone. Having been listening through her quiet tears the girl spoke up.

"Do you not like angels?"

"When you get to heaven you'll probably understand soon enough." Dean told her. And immediately regretted it. For the kids sake.

* * *

Dean didn't have a body, even so he felt exhausted after the day he had had. After Tessa disappeared with the girl and he took off the ring he found himself once more in Bobby's kitchen.

"Congratulations Dean, you won, barely. Sit." Death announced once more sitting at the kitchen table. This time a tray with several hotdogs and fries sat before the reaper. Hesitantly Dean attempted to sit in the chair across from Death worried that he would fall through. Instead he was surprised when the seat caught him.

"What is it with you and cheap food." Dean asked once seated.

"I could say the same for you," Death pointed out, "It's from a little stand in new deli famous for their bacon dogs. I got one for you as well, of course you won't be able to eat it now so I'll leave it here in the fridge for you. I thought I would have a snack before I put the ring back on."

As he said this Dean pulled the ring out of his pocket (he didn't want to know why ghosts had pockets) and looked down at it. He wouldn't be too sad to see it go. But now it made him think of something. Death had pulled out the ring even before they made the wager, before Dean asked him to bring back Sam as well.

"Heavier than it looks isn't it. Now you know what a burden it can be." Death asked as if reading his mind.

"Yeah I sucked at being you," Dean replied smartly "but you know what I think? I think you planned this the whole time. This wasn't a wager. You already knew I wouldn't agree to your offer unless Sam came back too. That's why you got out the ring even before you told me what the offer was. At least have the balls to admit the whole thing was a set up." Suddenly, although he had not moved an inch Dean felt as though Death towered over him.

"Most people show me more respect." he said menacingly "I need to see just how far you were willing to go for your brother. To see if there was in fact a line that you would not cross for him. I dare say we found it. Besides you learned something today Dean. You got a small peek below the surface few get to see."

"What do you mean?" Dean asked cautiously not daring to upset Death further.

"You got a tiny glimpse at the power that flows within all molecules and photons in the universe. The current of this power drives the fate of every being and entity. The fate of all humans, angels, demons, and even God's, and my own are determined by this current. Try to swim against it you only drown and the disturbance that's created pulls down everyone around you. Allow it to carry you as it wills, you may steer your direction within the stream. Just like a river forks, so too does the current, the choices you make will allow you to decide which path you take."  
"That's it." Dean said "Your just going to be cryptic?"

"You will understand when you need to." Death stood up slowly "And now I'm off to hell to retrieve your brother's soul and salvage your bodies."

Dean felt a jolt of shock. Death was really going to do it. He was going to bring the Winchesters back to life. Finely he couldn't contain the question he knew he should have asked right away.

"Why are you doing this for us? Last time we talked you said you thought of humans as little more than bacteria. So why would you bring any back to life, let alone us?"

"That was a bit harsh of me." Death admitted "but I'm not doing this for you, you and your brother keep coming back. Your an affront to the balance of the universe. and you disruption the current on a massive scale."

Dean leaned way from Death who really was towering over him now. "Apologize for that." He said nervously

But you have use. Let's just say that there is someone who has crossed into your life before, and should you live again will no doubt do so once more, with whom I have an invested interest. Someone has been caught in a powerful current. But the journey before them is not one they are yet capable of taking alone. I need someone close, who can keep watch and stand by them."

"You want to enlist us to serve someone?" Dean asked not sure what to think.

"Not a service, no. More of a partnership." Death corrected, "There are two others who could do the task, though they are far more incompetent and likely to lead down a far more trying road. You and Sam on the other hand, besides having a much deeper connection, possess a road map. You just need to learn how to read it."

"Alright who is it?"

"Who do you think?" Before Dean could respond Death vanished in the blink of an eye.

* * *

"Sammy, wake up." The first thing Sam was aware of besides he's brother's voice and his body shaking, was that he was cold, and how different it felt from anything in a long, long time. Sam's eyes snapped open to the sight of a clear blue sky. A moment later Dean's head popped into view.

"Dean? Where are we?" Sam sat up and a quick glance around later, answered his own question. "This is where the apocalypse happened."

"We're alive Sammy." Dean told him happily. "We're alive."

"How? I thought we were gone for good after…"

Dean interrupted him. "I'll fill you in once we get to Bobby's. There's a lot to explain he's gonna want to know too and I only want to do it once."

Sam gave his brother a concerned glare. "Dean, Bobby's dead."

"Bobby never died Sam, the whole thing with the leviathans it never happened."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked dubiously

Dean motioned his hand out to the empty field. "We both fell into the cage during that fight Sam, not just you."

"I know. So?"

"You knew?" Dean was taken aback, "Did you know I was possessed by Michael?"

"Yeah, you don't remember any of it?" Sam asked "I know...he accidentally left my soul behind but got you out soon after so your weren't as bad off. I thought you just didn't want to talk about it incase it messed me up."

"Doesn't matter right now." Dean shook his head to get back on track. "Point is, we've been in the cage this whole time. Everything we went through since it's all been some kind of hell dream."

"Crap," Listening to his brother's words and remembering Michaels, Sam looked out into the horizon. Sam didn't for a secant doubt Dean could be right about the cage, he knew full well there had been times he had wondered about it himself. "Dean if that's true, how do you know we're not still in the cage?"

"Guess we're going to have to figure that out ourselves."


End file.
